Freakshow Just Like Me
by In Smithereens
Summary: AU After Buffy's sacrifice in The Gift Dawn learnt that she was a witch, a year later she has been expelled from two wizarding schools and starts at Hogwarts where she meets someone who's a freakshow just like her. Set in The Order of the Phoenix.
1. A Train Journey, Scars and Sorting

A/N I'm giving up on this story, I just feel that I made Dawn far too sue-ish and I no longer like the pairing. If you want to adopt it, just message me. In other news, I've started another Dawn-At-Hogwarts story called "New School, New Fight"  
A non-vague Disclaimer: I own nothing... All belongs to Joss Whedon and JK Rowling and we are all pawns in their universe(s). Please don't sue me!

Dawn sat down in the empty train compartment and put on her headphones, sliding down in her seat. The moment she pressed play a boy with messy black hair and glasses poked his head around the door.

"Are these seats free?" He asked, motioning towards the empty seats around her. She nodded and he stepped in, a red-haired girl following him.

"Are you new?" The girl asked. Dawn turned off her MP3 player and took out her headphones.

"I've transferred into the fifth year." She replied.

"From where? Beauxbatons?" The boy asked, his eyes fixed on the scar that cut across her lips. She looked down, self- conscious.

"I went there for a while, but my last school was New Salem. In the US." She thought about explaining her scar. He must have noticed her noticing him because his eyes shot up to hers and he smiled.

"Sorry, I know what it's like to have people staring."

"Really?" He pushed his hair off his forehead, revealing a lightning-bolt shaped scar.

"I'm Harry Potter."

"Dawn Summers," she smiled blankly. The redhead laughed.

"Wait, you don't know who he is? I'm Ginny Weasley by the way"

"I, uh, think I've heard the name before…" She said, aware that she should have known who he was.

"The boy who lived?" The girl said. It all suddenly moved into place.

"You fought that Voldemort guy." Dawn smiled. Harry and Ginny laughed. "Sorry, I'm still kinda new at this whole 'wizarding world' stuff." Off their blank looks she elaborated "I only started going to magic schools when I was fourteen."

"And you've already been to two?" Harry asked.

"Yup, I went to Beauxbatons for a semester, from September to December, and was 'asked to leave' and the same happened with New Salem. As it is now, I go to and stay at Hogwarts or I have to live with my dad in San Diego and go to a regular high school."

"Impressive," he smiled. Ginny looked at her, frowning.

"So you went to muggle schools before that?" She asked.

"Yes… but then last year I learnt about all this and decided to give it a go."

They continued to question Dawn for the next twenty minutes until they were interrupted by two other students entering the carriage.

"Guess who's Slytherin's prefect?" One of them, a red-haired boy, asked Harry.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say Malfoy." Harry replied, looking glum.

"Who else?" The other student said, a girl with thick brown hair. "And that cow Pansy Parkinson." She continued with venom. They went to sit down and noticed Dawn.

"Are you new?" The girl asked. "I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ron Weasley."

"Um yeah, I'm Dawn Summers."

"What year are you in?" The girl looked her up and down.

"Fifth, like Harry." The girl turned to the red-haired boy who was staring at Dawn's mouth.

"Just ask her, Ronald." She said wearily. "He won't stop staring until he knows."

"What happened to your face?" He asked, bluntly.

"I got on the wrong side of a sword." Dawn smiled, letting them know that she didn't mind being asked.

"But how did you get scarred?" Hermione's forehead creased as she asked the question. "Any spell would be able to heal it. Unless whatever attacked you jinxed the sword…" She trailed off.

"The bastard coated the sword in a potion… To make it easier."

"Easier to what?" Ron asked.

"To kill me."

For a few moments there was silence in the carriage.

"Well who here hasn't had an attempt on their life?" Harry asked, cutting through the silence cheerfully.

"You'll fit right in here." Ginny laughed.

"We have to change into our robes," Hermione said, looking out of the window at the countryside roaring past them. Ginny stood up and pulled down her bag, Dawn followed suit and followed her and Hermione into the bathrooms at the end of the train. Quickly Dawn changed into her new school uniform. When she came out of the cubicle Hermione smiled at her feet.

"We match," she said looking from Dawn's purple converse to the blue ones she was wearing.

"I was scared that the dress code would be stricter but I decided to risk it." Hermione looked her up and down, taking in her subtly striped grey knee socks and skirt that barely reached her mid-thigh.

"You'll get away with that." She smiled. "The only thing the teachers care about is that you wear your robes for feasts."

Dawn looked at Hermione and frowned at her striped tie.

"Don't worry; you'll get one of those after the sorting."

Dawn smiled and looked into the mirror. She took her make-up bag out and began to re-apply the black eyeliner that ringed her eyes. She dabbed on some lip balm and rolled her eyes at her reflection.

"Ready to go?" She asked as the train stopped.

When they reached Hogwarts Dawn split up with the others to follow the first years into the Great Hall. As she walked up the aisle, a few feet behind the last of the first years, she noticed that all eyes were fixed on her rather than the other new students. She breathed in and straightened her hair before sitting on the stool and having the moth-eaten Sorting Hat placed on her head.

"A Slayer!" The Hat crowed inside her head.

"Sorta," she replied silently.

"You've embraced it, you fight, I can see that. But you don't know the root of your power… Slytherin would teach you how to use your gifts. You would be a great asset to them, and to their side."

Dawn screamed inwardly. She wasn't going to be anyone's 'asset'. Buffy wouldn't have done that. She'd quit the council, severed ties with anyone that thought that way.

"No? It would be easier." The Hat tried to coax. "Well then, better be GRYFFINDOOR!"

The hat was taken off her head and she walked towards the table where Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron were sitting. The table were clapping for her and she smiled, sliding into a seat next to Harry. Perhaps this school would be different.


	2. Origin Stories and Cigarettes

Author's Note: It's almost the summe holidays and I've resolved to update all of my stories at least once a week :) This chapter is very explain-y but I wouldn't keep many secrets if I was around the Trio (the HP one, not the Buffy one- though I wouldn't be able to keep anything if around Tom Lenk or Danny Strong!), because they are all so nosey and would come to really convoluted conclusions that probably would end up being true. I've probably fudged some details here, but it is AU! Review please!  
A not so vague disclaimer: I own nothing... BTVS and HP are owned by Joss Whedon and J.K. Rowling, respectively. Please don't sue me!

After the feast Dawn moved to duck out of the hall, gesturing to Harry that she was going to sneak a cigarette. He followed her and they weaved through the crowds of students making their way to the stairs. As they reached a door leading out of the castle someone cut in front of them, sneering at Harry.

"Got the new girl believing all of your stories, Potter?" He asked.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Leave us alone, Malfoy." Harry said through gritted teeth, Dawn saw him begin to pull out his wand. The guy saw too and laughed narrowing his eyes at Harry as if he was silently egging him on.

"What? No arguments? No fights? I thought you were supposed to be Harry Potter the hero, fighting off Voldemort…" He laughed. "Come on, hex me, you've got to show the girl how terribly valiant you are. And then you'll get a headache and cry about your parents." Harry moved towards him but he stood still, looking from Harry to Dawn. "Oh, is she 'a kindred spirit', with a scar across her lips and hands curled into fists?" He surveyed her for a moment and smiled. "Oh look, she's got a tattoo. And all that eyeliner. Didn't think your type would be interested in Dumbledore's golden boy, love." Dawn laughed.

"And what's your 'type'? All manly posturing with an act you've stolen off a vampire." His eyes widened. She stepped closer to him. "I happen to know that vampire personally and I don't think he'd be too impressed at a prefect trying to be tough."

"What, are you going to cry to him so that he'll beat me up?" He tried to sneer at her but he had become even paler and looked unsure of himself.

"No, I'm thinking more I'll kick your ass, take a picture, send it to him and he'll have a laugh at the kid who tried to emulate him." With that she pushed him, enjoying his eyes bulging at her strength. She smiled and walked away, with Harry at her side, laughing.

When they reached the lake they sat down and Dawn pulled out a crumpled pack of Marlboros and a heavy silver Zippo from the pocket of her skirt. She offered one to Harry who declined and lit one, exhaling into the dusk.

"What was that with Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"What was what?" She asked, smiling.

"The vampire thing and how he reacted to you shoving him."

"What? I do know the vampire he stole his look off and I could kick his ass!" She took another drag. "I don't like people trying to intimidate me."

"Is that how you got your scar?" He asked. She laughed.

"I got the scar saving other people's lives." She said simply. "And it got me expelled from New Salem."

"Saving people? I don't get it…. You're just a girl." He said, shaking his head.

"And you're 'just a boy' but you've saved people." She frowned. "Come on, you know what I am. You've been thinking about it since you saw the stake in my bag."

"The Slayer?" He whispered.

"A Slayer, actually. It's not a whole destiny deal with me."

"But how…?"

"My sister was the Slayer, but it was complicated. She had died before and was resuscitated but the slayer line had been continued. Another was called. So when she died her power had nowhere to go. So it went to the person proximately closest to her. Which was me."

"Where's the real slayer?... The other slayer, I mean." Harry asked.

"Prison." Dawn said bluntly.

"What did she do?"

"I'm not gonna go into detail but she was dangerous for a while…" Dawn's face grew dark as she remembered Faith in her sister's body. "So for now I'm the only one."

"Sorry, I shouldn't be asking you so many questions, but it's like I'm meeting Superman, or King Arthur or someone."

"Thanks," Dawn laughed. "I guess I should tell you everything anyway, Dumbledore told me what you and your friends are like with secrets."

"We prefer the term 'mysteries'." Harry smiled.

"My mum died a little over a year ago and a couple of months after that my sister died. So naturally it fell on my deadbeat dad to look after me. But when I went to stay with him, that summer, he decided that it was time for him to tell me about my true family, my lineage, so to speak. He told me that he was a wizard, and that my mum had been a witch. Apparently they both gave it up before my sister was born because they were scared of Voldy, sorry, Lord Voldemort. But when someone killed him- you, my dad didn't want to hide anymore; he wanted to bring me and Buffy up in the Wizarding world. So he and my mum fought about it, she saw the muggle world as her chance to have a normal life away from her old family and wanted us to have normal childhoods. The tipping point finally came when I was sent my Hogwarts letter. They split up because my mum refused to even answer it…. Well that and the fact that he had cheated on her. So when my dad told me about the Wizarding world I agreed to try going to a magic school. I spent the summer getting caught up on all of the work that I had missed (I had already started studying some forms of magic before all of this) and started at New Salem. When I was there, as well as going through a rather clichéd rebellious phase I tried to trace my parents families. I found my dad's line easily; they were practically descended from the founders of New Salem and really not so interesting, unless you're interested in the whole Crucible-thing. But my mum's family were harder. I had nothing to go on, just her maiden name and the fact that she had grown up in England, something that she never told me and Buffy, she had put on an American accent, so there was no mention of her family in the school's records. But I hit a break when someone was telling me about Voldemort. He mentioned a guy with the same surname as my mum's. I looked him up and found a whole host of information about the family; apparently they go really far back over here. And I learnt that I have surviving relatives. So when I was expelled from Beauxbatons and Dumbledore came to me, offering me a place at Hogwarts, I asked him about the family, telling them who my mum was. He told me that my mum's brother was working with him and was particularly involved in your protection. Sirius Black?" She finished. Harry's eyebrows raised and at that Dawns did. Was his name really that surprising? She had just assumed that he was an auror.

"You're Joyce's daughter?" Harry asked. "Sirius told me that she had died running from Voldemort."

"Nope, she just moved to another continent." Dawn smiled.

"But why haven't you gone to him? Why hasn't Dumbledore told him?"

"I was supposed to go with Dumbledore to meet him in July but things were happening in my hometown, I couldn't get away until yesterday. And Dumbledore said that Sirius was in hiding so telling him that he had a relative in danger would be reckless."

"Because Sirius would have blown his cover." Harry finished.

"I'm supposed to be meeting him at the weekend; Dumbledore's going to arrange a Port-key from Hogsmeade." Dawn paused before she lit another cigarette. "Are you sure you don't want one?" Harry nodded and she put two cigarettes in her mouth, after she had lit them she passed one over to him. He took it and inhaled deeply, Dawn got the feeling that he was trying his hardest not to cough. After a few drags he seemed to have got the hang of it and Dawn started to speak again.

"Now that I've ruined your clean pink lungs we should probably make our way back up to the castle." Harry nodded and they made the five minute walk in silence, trying to make their cigarettes last. When they reached the castle they threw the butts away and Harry led her to the Common Room. As they made their way through the portrait hole Harry began to chuckle.

"I've just realized that you're related to Malfoy." He said after she shot him a puzzled look. "And Ron, come to think of it… Funny how all the pureblood families interlink."


	3. An Early Meeting, Gluttony and Biology

Author's Note: Thanks to all the people who subscribed :) This chapter is very talky, and I go off on a couple of tangents, sorry. So yeah, review please, to give me ideas (I have some things thought of but there's a lot more that's kinda blank) and ask any questions, or alternatively to correct anything I got wrong. So yeah, I hope you like this!  
A non- vague disclaimer: I own nothing; all belong to Whedon and Rowling…

The next morning Dawn woke up in her new bed, in a corner of the girl's dormitory. She looked around at the other sleeping students and rolled her eyes at the moving posters that were taped above their beds. Quietly she picked up a fresh set of clothes and tiptoed into the bathroom. She showered and dressed quickly and applied her makeup in thick lines around her eyes. She grabbed her bag and put all of her day's books inside and walked out of the dorm and common room.

As she made her way down the staircases she tried to memorise all of the floors and different rooms. She noted the portraits on the wall (all of the subjects snoring and leaning against the frames) and hoped that she would be able to find her first class of the day. When she came to Dumbledore's office she looked at her watch 6:59, as the time changed to 7:00 the headmaster appeared in the doorway.

"Miss Summers, right on time," he said as he ushered her up the tiny staircase that lead to his office. When they opened the doors she saw two adults she recognised from the teachers table sitting to the side of the desk that was centred under the window.

"Minerva, Severus; this is Dawn Summers. The new student I have been telling you about." Dumbledore addressed the two teachers. "Miss Summers, this is Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape." Dawn smiled and nodded at them, unsure what she was expected to say to them.

"With all due respect, Professor, I fail to see what one girl can do to help our cause, slayer or not." The male teacher, professor Snape said, looking at Dawn with disdain. Dawn frowned and started to speak when Dumbledore spoke up.

"With all of your interest in the position of Defence against the Dark Arts teacher I would have thought that you would be much more aware of Dawn's beginnings than I was when I first met her. And with your knowledge of these beginnings you should understand how she could help us in the coming troubles."

"Headmaster, she's barely fifteen years old, are you sure that she's up to it?" The female teacher asked, more politely than Snape but still sceptical.

"Minerva, I assure you that Miss Summers has proven herself more than 'up to it' in the past two years." Dumbledore said, with patience. "And Severus, she is not a slayer in the normal sense; she has more magical ability than any student I have seen come through this school in all of my years here."

"But professor, I was under the impression that she had only been studying magic for a year." Snape argued.

"And in that year she was able to catch up the three years she had missed in the span of a summer. She also has ability in another form of magic; she is able to act as a conduit for the most powerful natural magical forces in existence."

Both professors turned to look at Dawn with a mixture of disbelief and awe.

"Surely you don't mean life and death, Professor?" Professor McGonagall said in shock. Before he answered her, Dumbledore turned to Dawn.

"Do I have your permission to tell them?" He asked gently. Dawn nodded.

"When Dawn was thirteen, her mother died. A few days later Dawn performed a ritual to bring her back to life, using a Gora egg. The ritual created what Dawn thought was a zombie and Dawn stopped the ritual, despite herself."

"Those spells were outlawed centuries ago, Professor." Snape said, more in surprise than scepticism. Dumbledore smiled.

"Before Dawn started attending Beauxbatons she was not under the laws of the wizarding world." He said simply. "Do you now agree with me that she is important to us?"

Both professors nodded their assent.

"Good, now we can discuss arrangements to fit Dawn's situation." Dumbledore smiled broadly, gesturing for them all to sit down. "Dawn has agreed to do some work in the forest, looking into the rumours about demon activity there and in Hogsmeade; to this end, she will be allowed to leave the castle after dinner to patrol and will not require permission to go into Hogsmeade." He told the professors. To Dawn he added "We have also created a training room for you, complete with the standard weapons. I trust that you will be careful with them and take care not to lead other students into the room. It's at your discretion what you tell people about yourself, but I would advise that you not tell them about your family or powers, both could put you in danger."

"I've only told one person, as we discussed." Dawn finally spoke up.

"I trust he believed you?" Dumbledore smiled.

"It's kinda hard not to, what with my scar." She joked.

"If that's all sorted out then you can go and have some breakfast. I will see you on Saturday outside the great hall. And Miss Summers, be careful."

"That's the idea "try not to get killed"." Dawn smiled as Dumbledore chuckled. "It was nice to meet you, professors." She added.

Half an hour later she was stuffed with the best breakfast she'd ever had.

"Would it be really disgusting if I had another pancake?" She asked a rather shell-shocked Harry, only half joking.

"Who can eat that much and not be the size of a house?" He asked in awe. Hermione laughed, looking pointedly at Ron, who was still stuffing bacon and eggs into his mouth.

"Okay, what girl can eat that much and be as thin as you?" Harry said.

"It's a whole freaky Summers thing… well that and the whole slayer-ness. My body burns a lot more calories than a normal person's." She smiled. Hermione's eyes widened, Harry had filled her and Ron in on Dawn's story but she was still rather shocked at the fact that Dawn was really a Slayer, as, like most witches, she believed that the slayer was a myth. She had told Dawn this and Dawn had quipped. "Yup, Slayers and Santa Claus, who'd have thought?" She then told them Anya's story about the 'real' Santa Claus, further adding to Ron's confusion about muggles.

"Do you think that your DNA has changed?" Hermione asked, exited. "Like your healing powers, your cells are able to regenerate…" She trailed off. Dawn laughed.

"I promise that if we finish Hogwarts and you don't go at all homicidal, I'll let you test your theories." She said sincerely. "Hey, we could cure cancer if we found out how to control it." She grinned.

The three students looked at her curiously.

"Well, as cancerous cells rapidly regenerate, a way to stop and start cell generation, you know, selectively, would stop cancers spreading." Off their looks she added. "Sorry, it's my whole inner science nerd talking… I read way too much and I have this whole thing where I can remember everything I read and I tend to quote it. It leads to many awkward silences." She smiled apologetically. "So yeah, I'm gonna have a donut instead." She said, grabbing a chocolate one off the overloaded platter between them and eating it in three bites.

"And you thought that Hermione went off," Ron said, his eyebrows raised but smiling. Dawn stuck out her tongue and finished her glass of orange juice; looking down at her timetable she rolled her eyes.

"Vomit, we have that Umbridge woman first lesson."


	4. Nerves, Family and Explanations

Author's Note: Hmmm, I don't know what to say about this chapter... It's short but I think that I got in what I wanted to. I've figured out way too much of the story that comes a couple of months later but not so much september/october stuff, which makes writing alot harder. As always, thanks for subscribing and please review! :)  
A non- vague Disclaimer: I own nothing, I bow before Joss Whedon and JK Rowling and I have no money so sue-age would be rather pointless.

The first few days of lessons were rather uneventful, though they had been right to dislike Umbridge; she had decided to take any practical defence off the dark arts syllabus and believed the Ministry's story that Voldemort had not risen and Harry was delusional. It had taken all of Dawn's willpower to stay out of their argument when Harry had pointed out to the woman (Dawn refused to refer to her as a Professor) that as they were all under threat, they needed to learn defensive spells. Umbridge had laughed at Harry and told the class that they were all perfectly safe. But Dawn didn't want anyone to realize what she was, especially the Ministry officials. Her days had been punctuated by sneaking off to smoke with Harry (much to Hermione's annoyance) and swapping fight stories with the group. Every night she patrolled around the forest and Hogsmeade, not getting a lot of action but enough that she wondered how the other inhabitants had survived (other than the whole, 'not picking fights' thing).

By ten on Saturday morning she could barely contain her nerves at meeting her uncle. For the first time since Buffy died she had worried about what she was wearing, changing three times before she was satisfied that she looked okay. She had settled on wearing a green cardigan, vest top and denim miniskirt over grey wool tights. She tied her hair back, despite the fact that it showed the tattoo on the base of her neck, something that probably wouldn't give the best impression. She stood outside Dumbledore's office waiting for him and tugging down the hem of the skirt, uncharacteristically self-conscious. When Dumbledore arrived they left the school grounds and he apparated her into a fairly ordinary-looking street in London. Dumbledore then told her the location of the house and it appeared, squeezed between two others. They entered the house and were met by a man she judged to be in his forties who greeted Dumbledore in a rather relieved manner.

"Sorry, I've been cooped up in this house for the past week." He told Dawn, smiling. He led them into a dining room and they sat around a table. Dumbledore introduced him as Sirius Black. She smiled and told him her name, hoping that he would realize who she was.

"Joyce, I mean Lyra's daughter." She said when he didn't, tripping over her mother's 'real' name. He looked bewildered.

"But Lyra died years ago, at the beginning of the last war." He said, staring at her in shock.

"Lyra ran away Sirius," Dumbledore explained. "Went to America and renounced magic…. Your parents assumed that she was killed when she refused to join the Death Eaters." Sirius' eyes widened.

"She ran away and changed her name, pretended to be a muggle?" Sirius asked.

"It happened more often than you would think. She met a wizard who was also disillusioned by the wizarding world and they married. They had two children."

"Had, so she's dead?" Sirius directed this question at Dawn.

"February before last… She had a brain aneurism." She explained, looking down at the table.

"You said that she had two children, where's the other one?" At that, Dawn had to swallow a lump in her throat and bit her lip, willing herself not to get emotional.

"Buffy died three months after mom." She said.

"How?" Sirius asked, needing to know, despite the fact that Dawn was obviously uncomfortable.

"Um, she was saving me. Buffy was the Slayer." She explained.

"But I was told that you were the Slayer…." Sirius started.

"I'm a slayer… When she died her powers went to me." She then explained that Buffy wasn't the only slayer. Sirius then asked her about her father, becoming angry when she told him about her father not calling Buffy back after being notified about his ex-wife's death, or giving the girls any money.

"I guess he just can't handle being around us after the divorce." She said, resigned to that fact. Sirius looked her up and down.

"How did you get the scar?" He said, finally.

"In a fight… The sword was anointed so that the wounds would never quite heal." She said, biting her lip again. Sirius smiled at her matter-of-fact tone.

"Welcome to the family then, Dawn." He said. "I'm sorry to say that we don't have the best reputation. Very Slytherin- heavy."

Dumbledore left shortly afterwards and Dawn spent the rest of the day in the house, talking to Sirius about their family, she told him stories about Buffy and he showed her her mother's old bedroom, which had been stripped of most of its contents and used as a storage room, due to the fact that, like Sirius, she had betrayed the family when she refused to join Voldemort. When Dumbledore arrived back at the house to take Dawn back to Hogwarts they promised to write to each other and Sirius had invited her to spend the Christmas holidays at Grimmauld Place, which she had promised to think over. When she left Sirius hugged her, and she stiffened automatically as she did whenever someone touched her. He looked at her sadly and they said their goodbyes.


	5. Smoking, Plans and Dislocations

Author's Note: Well, after that I'm off to write something angsty and Dramione (read it, if you're into that sort of thing)... Review, Please!  
A not-so-vague Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss Whedon and JK Rowling do. Though I like to think that they would ask if they wanted to use any of this...

When Dawn got back to Hogwarts she headed straight to the secluded area by the lake, not wanting any human contact. She lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply trying to get her feelings into order. Her hands were shaking and cold; she pushed the ends of her sleeves over them and leaned back against the wall. Sitting like that she proceeded to smoke the entire pack of cigarettes, one after another, the butts littering the area around her feet. When she had finished the pack she looked up at the sky from her position sitting with her knees drawn up to her on the ground. She was about to go back to the castle when Harry approached her.

"I guessed that you would be here, Hermione was all for leaving you alone but I snuck out after dinner." He said, sitting down next to her. He looked at the cigarette butts and smiled.

"Ran out of cigarettes." Dawn said, pulling her hands up into the sleeves of her cardigan as Harry rooted around his pockets and came up with a crushed but almost full pack of Marlboro lights. She raised her eyebrows.

"That was quick." He smiled and took two out of the pack and putting them between his lips to light them. He flicked the mechanism of a red bic lighter unsuccessfully for a moment and Dawn bought out her own lighter, smiling. She put the flame to the ends of the cigarettes and Harry moved towards her, so close that his eyes seemed to be all she could see of him. The cigarettes lit and she pulled away from him, trying to stop the now staccato rhythm of her heartbeat. He passed one of the cigarettes to her and they both sat for a moment in silence, looking across the lake, each trying to start a conversation. Dawn was just wording a cool-yet-open ended comment about his quick 'descent into badness, y'know with all the smoking and sneaking out', when Harry spoke.

"For a while it's going to feel like you're betraying them." He said this in a matter-of-fact tone as his eyes searched her face. Dawn opened her mouth to speak but he carried on. "Because you've found a new sort of family. And the holidays aren't so bad and you know that someone is really looking out for you, like a parent would."

Dawn's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. "Sirius told us about inviting you for Christmas, told us to look out for you."

"When?" She asked, in an-almost whisper.

"A couple of hours he was in the fire in Dumbledore's office. He was going to check in with me tonight, to make sure that my first week had been ok."

"I was gonna go back to Sunnydale. My sister's friends, they always make a day of it, because most of them don't have families that they want to be with. It's not the same as with Buffy and my mom, and they walk on eggshells around me, but its okay."

"You don't seem very sure of that…" Harry said.

"It's…hard. Being home. And I know that they won't say anything, and that they probably hate themselves for even thinking about it but I feel like they blame me. Not 'me' me, more like the existence of me."

"I'm probably going to be at Sirius' for Christmas, along with Ron's family, if that helps, that you have people that you know there."

"I guess it couldn't be worse than eating tofurkey and listening to the Scoobies try not to mention my dad's lack of communication. Okay, I'll do Christmas at Sirius'. Christmas with my uncle." She said the last word uncertainly, it was the first time she had even thought of him as an uncle, as a real family member. Before she had only seen him as one of her mum's family. Not one of hers.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" Harry asked, relaxed and smiling.

"Hunting." She said simply.

"Hunting?"

"Trying to find some monsters, save some damsels." She put matter-of-factly.

"Can I come?"

"No." She said, in an authoritative tone.

"I fought Voldemort more than once." He argued.

"With a wand… I'm more in the swords, stakes and roundhouse kicks field of fighting."

"But-" Dawn interrupted him.

"If you say 'you're just a girl', I'll scream… In a decidedly non-girly way." She said, backtracking in the same way Buffy used to. "I need to change, anyway. So let's go back to the castle." Harry looked at her with a grudging respect but stood up. "Hermione might kill you for smoking again," She smiled as they walked back to the castle.

Dawn had been right. Hermione had spent fifteen minutes giving Harry a lecture about lung cancer "something that even St Mungo's best can't heal" and "trying to look cool". Dawn had tried to save him with a few well-placed quips but when Hermione ignored her she had gone back to the dorm with her hands in the air "My life-span doesn't really allow for those kinds of consequences" she had laughed, sticking her tongue out at Harry and ignoring Hermione's angry look.

It was two hours later and she was grappling with a marax demon, her hoodie ripped down the shoulder on one side, revealing the pulsating purplish-red gash beneath. She swung at it again with her knife but it caught her arm and twisted it far enough for her to feel the wet pop of her arm coming away from her shoulder. His arm was closed around her and, despite the fact that, weapon less she was tearing down at his flesh with her teeth, his grip was strong. She tried to close her eyes and her breathing constricted as he bought his talon-like hand to her throat, making to rip it apart. But he stopped, loosening his grip on Dawn so that she was able to propel herself out of his grip and see what had stopped him. Harry was standing a few metres away from them, a handful of rocks in his hand.

"Knife," She shouted to him, nodding at the fallen weapon. She distracted the demon as he retrieved it and threw it to her, his aim was perfect, it landed in her outstretched hand and she caught the demon from behind, holding it still in the same way he had held her and, using the knife, she split open his neck. His black blood covered her hands almost instantly but she continued, slicing apart tendons and bones until his head was completely removed from his body. With that, the body turned into a black oozing puddle, sinking into the ground and leaving no mark. She watched it disappear; making sure that the demon couldn't be reanimated and turned to Harry.

"You could've been killed." She said, gripping the knife until it cut into her hand.

"You would've been killed." He shot back, surprised that she wasn't thanking him for saving her life.

"I'm a Slayer, I had to fight it. You just put yourself in danger."

"Yeah, it's kind of what I'm known for. Y'know, doing the Triwizard tournament, standing up to Voldemort, playing Quidditch." He laughed. Dawn couldn't think of how more to convince him that helping her was not a good idea. When she stopped to think she noticed the searing pain in her shoulder.

"My shoulder's dislocated." She said, walking to him. His eyes widened.

"What?"

"My shoulder is dislocated," she said again, through gritted teeth. "You need to re-locate it."

"I'll take you to the hospital wing…" He started, putting an arm around her. Even through the pain she flinched and pushed his arm away.

"Just take the arm and rotate it a little, making it go to different angles at the elbow and then put it to a 90 degree angle at my side, pointing to the side. Then push it back into the joint." He started to argue but seeing the look in her eye he did as he was told. Throughout the procedure she squeezed her eyes closed and clenched her fists. When it was done she let out a sigh of relief and opened her eyes, after experimentally wriggling her arm she held it to her chest and, with her other hand groped in her pocket for her cigarettes. Seeing what she was doing Harry groped in his own pockets and, exactly the same as he had done earlier lit two cigarettes, this time using his wand to produce a flame. He passed one to her and frowned as she took a drag.

"It's good for the shock; I really don't want to pass out before we reach the castle." They walked back to the castle, Dawn with her injured arm held to her body and a cigarette dangling from her lips and Harry standing close to her, wanting to put his arm around her and lying to himself that it was only because she was injured.


	6. Notice

A/N- This is to all people who have subscribed to this story, I've given up on it and it's up for adoption. I have, however, started a new Dawn-At-Hogwarts story called 'New School, New Fight', which is rather similar (for one, I lifted some dialogue from this for it). So thanks for subscribing, and if you want to adopt, just message me or leave a review.


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